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WAKE UP TO THE DRINK THAT MAKES YOU LIVE LONGER

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Sprinkle sesame seeds liberally over steamed veggies, toss them into salads or add them to a stir-fry. The healthy little flavour boosters help drive down your lousy LDL cholesterol.

Talk about starting the day right. Your morning coffee (and any you drink later) may reduce your risk of premature death. Two to three cups a day cut it by 18 per cent in women and three per cent in men, according to a new study of more than 100,000 people. And the more everyone drank, the lower the risk. Credit may go to coffee's potent antioxidants, which seem to fend off cardiovascular disease. Whatever the mechanism, the benefits are unbeatable: You're less likely to die. And that's on top of the other health goodies we already know are in this brew: * Four cups (32 ounces) of java a day can cut your diabetes risk by a third, possibly by improving insulin's effects. * Three cups (24 ounces) a day protects your brain, dropping your risk of Parkinson's disease by 40 per cent and Alzheimer's disease by 20 per cent. * Two cups (16 ounces) a day keeps your hardworking liver healthy, as it filters out pollutants, makes protein, warehouses extra carbs and vitamins, and helps produce bile needed to digest fat. Many of these benefits also come from decaf - good news if caffeine disturbs your blood pressure or ability to sleep. Just be sure you make coffee with a paper filter; the paper traps a compound that otherwise increases lousy LDL cholesterol. That said, there are almost no other coffee caveats, except this: If regular-strength brew is what you groove to, get some extra calcium, because caffeine makes you excrete this bone builder. For every 8 ounces of coffee, get an extra 40 milligrams of calcium. Conveniently, that's almost exactly the amount in 2 tablespoons of skim milk - so if you like coffee with milk, you're good to go. Dr. Mike prefers that you drink it black accompanied by a calcium/magnesium/vitamin D tablet... but that's a topic for another column.

WEIGHTLIFTING MADE EASY

Weightlifting is far less complicated than figuring out your new cell phone. So why aren't you doing it? Here's how to get past two common stumbling blocks and get right to the big benefits (stronger muscles and bones, a metabolism boost and younger heart, arteries and immune system). How much weight should I lift? Start with five pounds or less. If you can repeat a move more than 12 times without feeling wiped out, go heavier. But if it's tough to do even eight lifts, lighten up. Your muscles may be able to handle hunkier weights, but your tendons, ligaments and other connective tissue may not - especially if you're out of shape or have already had a run-in or two with bursitis or tendonitis. When you can do a move 12 times pretty easily, increase the weight just enough to make six to eight repeats a challenge. Should I use free weights (dumbbells) or weight machines? They both have good points; just choose what's right for you. Free weights (dumbbells and barbells) make you steadier as well as stronger. That's because your body has to balance as well as lift the weights, which works the "core" muscles in your torso responsible for good posture and balance. It's also easy to store a compact set of free weights at home. Weight machines make you less likely to strain a muscle or joint and get injured from poor form because they are designed to position your body correctly. But they're big and expensive, so using them usually means joining a gym. Want it all? No problem. Lots of gym members mix the two, either doing some of each every workout or alternating all free weights with all machines, depending on the day.

THE SEEDS YOU NEED

Sesame seeds have powers far beyond bringing flavour and texture to your seared tuna - or wedging themselves between your teeth. They help drive down your lousy LDL cholesterol and may play a role in blocking cancer. You know how the fake fat called olestra keeps real fat from being absorbed by sliding it right through your intestines? (Sometimes too well, as people who haven't heeded the "wear dark pants" mantra have discovered.) Well, sesame seeds help lower LDL cholesterol in a somewhat similar way - by keeping your intestines from absorbing the stuff - but without any unpleasant side effects. In fact, quite the opposite: Sesame seeds also contain lignans, powerful antioxidants that might be cancer deterrents. To get the anticholesterol effects, include sesame in your daily diet. Sprinkle the seeds liberally over steamed veggies, toss them into salads, add them to a stir-fry and try them with yogurt and fruit. Enough with the seeds? Sesame oil's an option, too - keep it in a mister and spritz it on whole grains for a light, nutty flavour, or use it as dip for whole-wheat bread. Then there's tahini, the delicious sesame-seed paste sold in the ethnic-food section of more and more supermarkets. Use it as a dip for fresh veggies, a spread for pita bread or a secret ingredient - it adds a whole new dimension to salad dressings, pasta dishes, rice and noodles. And it's great combined with hummus (pureed chickpeas). Your arteries - and that means your skin, heart, head and sex organs - will all function better because you chose sesame.

PAIN RELIEF WITHOUT PILLS

We feel your pain. But you shouldn't. Whether it's in your back, neck, head, knees or anywhere else, pain doesn't do you any good. See, when you chronically hurt, your body's pain receptors start to expect it, which actually ratchets up the pain a notch. If you tell your body it's OK to ache - by not doing anything about it - you're reinforcing the message that pain is OK. But you can reset this response. And one of the cheapest and most interesting ways to do this yourself - no docs, no drugs, no medical devices needed - is with a remedy you probably already own: your headphones. Put them on and turn on some soothing sounds. When people with osteoarthritis listened to relaxing music through headphones for 20 minutes every day for two weeks, their bodies felt better. In fact, the more often they listened, the better they felt. These folks listened to Mozart, but if he's not at the top of your playlist, just pick something else that's fairly slow - it should have fewer than 80 beats per minute. Other research has found even more benefits from music. Unrelenting pain makes people feel powerless, but somehow music helps restore feelings of confidence and control. And more power equals less depression from the pain. So when you want to tune out what hurts, tune in daily to a slow program on your iPod.

THREE WAYS TO MAKE FRUITS AND VEGGIES EVEN HEALTHIER

Just because Mother Nature packs nutrients into fruits and vegetables more tightly than commuters on a Japanese subway doesn't guarantee that the good stuff will last forever. How you treat produce before you eat it has a big impact on how many nutrients are still there when you dig in. Here's how to handle three summer favorites: 1. Don't refrigerate whole watermelons. That's a big whew, since there's never room for one anyway. But whole watermelons stored at room temperature deliver more cell-protecting phytonutrients (specifically, lycopene and beta carotene) than melons that are refrigerated or even fresh off the farm. That's because watermelons continue to ripen and build phytonutrients after they're picked; the big chill cuts that process short. For a cool treat, chill the sliced fruit right before serving. (And, of course, store any leftovers in the fridge.) 2. Slice fresh fruit yourself. Precut fruit saves time, but it opens the door for vitamin C to escape. Kiwi fruit, pineapple and cantaloupe seem particularly prone to C loss, according to one of our favourite physician/chefs, John La Puma, M.D. 3. Be gentle with broccoli. Cook it at too high a temperature and you decrease levels of sulforaphane, broccoli's main cancer-fighting nutrient. Light cooking, however, actually boosts that good-for-you compound. Cooking broccoli to 140 degrees is ideal (158 degrees is when sulforaphane content drops) - but if you don't want to make a science project out of cooking broccoli, know that lightly steaming or sauteeing it does the trick.